River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1887-02-03
WASHINGTON LETTER.


1 o1hs -ot 1901.
The wome are here again pleading
piteously and eloquently for their rights,
and telling the old, old story of their
wrongs just as they have done in Wash
ington every successive winter for nine
teen years. Many of the faces on the
platform are familiar from their frequent
iourneyings to this Mecca OF their hopes,
and every year there are some new ones.
There is something at once sublime and
pathetic in their persistence. They are
undismayed. Opposition is nothing.
Dissapointments are nothing. Yet nobody
knows better than these women that they
have expended a good deal of their
strength upon men of straw instead of
on their husbands and sons and brothers.
During the very hour of the opening of
their convention here, the Senate rejected
their proposed amendment TO the Consti-
tuition, giving women the right ofsuifrage
by vote of thirty-five to sixteen The
ladies of the convention are jubilant over
this triumph. Defeat" exclaimed Miss
Anthony, why no, it was a triumph for
us We have ON our side OF c-third of the
United States. This is the first time"
| continued she, 'that we ever got vote on
our amendment at all. We lave accom-
plished a great deal in securing recogni-
ton" When asked wha. right she had
to claim one-third of the Senate as friendly
TO woman suffrage, she picked up the
printed record of the vote and said, "Well,
there were sixteen Senators who voted for
the bill. OF the absen tees we count on
| Allison, Aldrich, Cameron, Chase, Dawes
Frye, Miller, Plumb, Sabin and Stanford
as our friends" She had some doubts
| about Harrison of Indiana. There are
eleven of them, who with the sixteen
that voted, said she, make in all twenty
seven Senators on our side"
Miss Anthony proceeded with "ghoul-
lsh glee' to state their future plan of ac-
ton. In the case of Senators who are
known as their opponents, when they
come up for election again, great effort
will be made to prevent their return to the
Senate. In Kansas the women would
| work for the election of members to the
Legislature who would promise to support
| for the United States Senate only some
man pledged to vote for their amendment.
She mentioned that they had five humid
red women making speeches throughout
the country, and that Mrs. Francis Will
ard, who is now here, was at the head of
half million women, all pledged 10 wo-
man suffrage. These women had discov-
cred that prayers and tears were NEGLECT
ual to get rid of the saloons when the
mans vote brought the saloon into exist
ence "and they are with us, said she,
because they want to vote on this one
question"
Both Congress and the social world of
Washington have been busy during the
week. Besides dismissing the woman
sutragists, and dsposing of the Canadian
Fishery trouble by passing the retaliatory
bill, the Senate again rejected the Mr..
Matthews, the colored lawyer from Alba
ny, as Recorder of Deeds of the District of
Columbia and then settled down to the
discussion of Agricultural Experiment
Stations. The House Of Representatives
has given its time to the consideration
and passage of appropriation bills, and
society has whirled in on IA incessant
round of gayety.
One of its notable events was the annual
ball at the Chinese Legation. Nothing
was left undone by the distinguished host
to make the affair elegant and complete
in all its arrangements, but the raid upon
the banquet table by portion of the
guests, is the talk of the society. Ladies
stood two rows deep around the wall, and
men struggled three deep around the
table to secure refreshments, as if food
had not been tasted before for days The
scramble was even wild and disgusting.
The Chinese Minister paid the honors of
the evening to Mrs. Folsom, the mother
in-law of the president, and accompanied
her to supper.
The week has been a lively one in tele-
phone circles, as the great suit is now in
progress. An imposing array of legal tai
ent is present, and the arguments in the
u. $. Supreme Court has drawn the public
daily. When Mr.. Lowry, for the Molecu-
lar Company, arose to continue his argu-
ment yesterday, the room was crowded
with attorneys and the tables and desks
were filled with telephone models. As he
speaks he gives object lessons by means
of the models.
At times three or four lawyers are on
their feet, assisting in the demonstrations
to the Justices, who ask many practical
questions, and the scene is at times very
amusing as well as instructive. The gath.
ering of spectators is made up largely of
distinguished persons, many OF them law
yers from a distance, who come solely
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